


Meant to Be

by yourstrulyhn



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, Childhood Friends, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, Fanfiction, Fluff, M/M, Other, Rivalry
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-21
Updated: 2020-08-26
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:54:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26019892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yourstrulyhn/pseuds/yourstrulyhn
Summary: "We're meant to be if we were born at the same time in the same room on the same day, right?"
Relationships: Park Chanyeol/Reader
Kudos: 1





	1. Chapter 1

“Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday, dear Chanyeol and Y/N!”

The kitchen roared with cheers and wishes of a happy day. Everyone was in high spirits, drinking the night away and having a good time as yet another year of life was celebrated for the birthday twins. Only, they were anything but pleased. Being squished together on a bench that barely fit the two of them, deepened the matching frowns they wore every year. It was bad enough that their mothers had their cameras pressed up to their faces for pictures, but being around the other made the mood worse.

You and Chanyeol absolutely despised what was supposed to be the happiest day of the year. The day that never stopped reminding you that you were born on the same day at the same time in the same room.

To many, sharing a birthday with Park Chanyeol was the best gift someone could ever ask for. To you, it was the thing you hated most. You were forced to share a joyous day with the boy you’ve considered a rival since birth. To make matters worse, your parents insisted every year that you two spend it together. Wasn’t that pleasant?

Funny enough, he felt the same way, making it the only thing you had ever agreed on.

Chanyeol glanced over at you, then clicked his tongue. You rolled your eyes, feeling your irritation grow at his unnecessary staring. With a huff, you turned away from the other with your arms crossed. Despite the obvious tension, everyone was still partying.

Suddenly, the lights were shut off as your mother walked towards you with the lit birthday cake. She placed it in between you and scurried back to her position alongside Chanyeol’s mother, with her thumb ready to hit record.

The two of you shared a look for a moment before the fight for who gets to the cake first broke out. Your hands were pressed into his cheek and arm while his elbow was pushed against your side to prevent the other from getting to it.

“Move, you idiot!”

“No, you move!”

“I can’t when you’re in my way!” Chanyeol stuck his tongue out at you, which only had you doing it back to him.

“What are you talking about, stupid? You’re the one who’s in the way!” You exclaimed. At this point, you were in the other’s faces. This being a usual occurrence when you were in the same room for even five minutes.

Your mothers shook their heads at their idiotic children, wondering how things turned out this way. They had planned for you two to get along and have this beautiful future, but it was the opposite.

“Just blow out the candles already!” Everyone, clearly fed up, interjected into the fight. With one last glare and a push of your pride aside, you blew out the candles. Relieved you were able to do that, they let out sighs of relief and erupted into cheers now that the celebration could continue.

“It still baffles me that you two were born on the same day at the same time in the same room! How amazing is that! Am I right?” Your father laughed and nudged Chanyeol’s father who clinked his beer with him in agreement.

“Papa, you say that every year. I don’t know why it’s still shocking to you,” You grumbled, crossing your arms on the table. 

Meanwhile, Chanyeol was handed a piece of cake to have his first bite. You turned to your mother to get a slice of your own when she innocently smiled and shook her head. You were instantly filled with even more pain.

“Again this year?” Chanyeol whined. Despite your protests and complaints every year, your parents insisted on keeping the tradition of taking the first bite together. Which was another thing that you shared with him that you also hated doing.

“You two have to have the first bite! Come on!” His father urged.

“But you have to do it together, of course!” His mother beamed.

“Oh! You know what? They should feed it to each other just like when they were younger!” Your mother giggled with her.

“Wait, but we never-” He tried to explain, but was cut off by his sister.

“What do you mean they used to feed each other? They always smashed it into each other’s faces, auntie!”

“If we’re keeping up tradition, I don’t mind smashing cake into his face.” You pointed at him.

“Not helping, idiot!”

“What? I’m just putting my opinion in.” You shrugged and smiled innocently, which only irked him more.

With everyone trying to get you to feed each other, you had to give in. There was no other way to get them to drop it until you did as they wanted.

You and Chanyeol scooped up a spoonful of cake, then turned to each other. Since this was your first time doing this, there was hesitation. Neither one of you wanted to actually do this, so you signaled the other to go first. You were too afraid to do it yourself. 

That was until Chanyeol took the initiative. He smirked as he brought the spoon closer to you, which put you on high alert. You knew he was up to no good, but what was it that he was planning to do? He just laughed it off, shaking his head to reassure you somehow. Still, you felt uneasy about his motive.

Regardless, you leaned towards the spoon. Then, in a split second, it moved and your cheek was smeared with cake. There it was.

You gasped as he laughed at the mess on your face.

“Park Chanyeol! You are so dead!” You reached for the cake slice in his mother’s hands and stuffed it into his face. Wide-eyed and mouth open, he stared at you in disbelief. Filled with vengeance, he grabbed the slice off your father’s plate and crumbled it atop your head. He laughed with such satisfaction. 

“Mm, delicious.”

That had pushed your last button and you snapped. You threw yourself at him, sending the both of you to the ground. He was quick to catch your wrists when your fingers curled into fists and almost reached his cheek. Because of his constant habit of working out, he had no problem holding you back. He stuck his tongue out at you to taunt you, which only made things worse. You were livid.

“Enough, you two!” Chanyeol’s father scolded, pulling you apart with the help of your father. You clicked your tongue, climbing off of him much to your dismay. Chanyeol scoffed and pushed himself up off the ground.

“I can’t believe you two are adults who still do petty things like fighting.” His sister shook his head.

“Look at you two, coated in cake. Go clean yourselves up!” Your mothers pushed you both up the stairs, leaving no room for arguments. They kicked you to the bathroom, then left you to fend for yourselves. There was a party still going on downstairs after all.

“This is all your fault. You just couldn’t let a birthday party pass in peace without having to do something, could you? You had to cause a fuss like you always do,” You clicked your tongue in annoyance. Chanyeol scoffed at the audacity of your words and rolled his eyes.

“It’s not solely my fault, you know. You were the one who tackled me like a crazy person!”

“Maybe because you started it first by putting cake on my face, stupid! You’re so childish sometimes!” You stomped down your foot. He stopped walking and threw his head back, letting out a chuckle full of disbelief. He spun around to look at you.

“I’m the childish one? Have you seen yourself, sweetheart?”

Your face grew hot at the pet name, unsure of whether it was embarrassment or anger. Fed up with the pointless fighting, you let out a huff and walked away, throwing your hands up in frustration.

“You are so annoying!”

“I’ve been called worse by you.” He rolled his eyes and followed you.

The two of you squished into the bathroom as a result of not letting the other go first. You didn’t meet eyes and washed your hands in peace. White he finished cleaning his hands, you were bent over the tub to get the cake residue out of your hair. Not wanting to spend another minute with him, you quickly brushed it out to get everything.

You let out a sigh as you wrapped your hair in the towel. When you stood back up, you noticed Chanyeol looking oddly at you.

“What?”

Realizing he got caught staring, he cleared his throat and averted his eyes. He then nudged you with his towel still in his hand. You raised an eyebrow.

“What am I supposed to do with this?” You asked, getting irritated. 

He took a deep breath, not wanting to say it out loud. “Do it for me.”

“Do what? The towel thing?” You asked, gesturing to your head. He nodded, the tips of his ears turning red. If you didn’t hate him so much, you may have thought he looked cute just now.

You waited until he cleaned out his hair in the tub, then wrapped his hair in the towel for him. He stood back up and you moved to the mirror to show him. Looking like a pair of idiots, you wanted to laugh. You bit your lip to prevent yourself from doing so because you didn’t want to seem as if you enjoyed spending time with him like this.

“We kind of look cute,” He spoke up, surprising you from his choice of words. You thought you would never hear Chanyeol compliment you, let alone the both of you.

“Correction. I look cute.”

“No way. I’m the cuter one. Our baby pictures and home videos prove it. Even the aunties and uncles say it too when we’re out.”

“I guess I can give you that one. You were a pretty cute baby,” You grumbled, though unwillingly.

“Of course, I was. It’s thanks to my cute ears, dimple and smile.” He winked at himself in the mirror. You chuckled and shook your head. But that good atmosphere was short lived when you caught yourself enjoying yourself and stopped laughing. Your cheeks matched with a rosy red when the realization hit you and you had to turn away. “That never happened.”

“Right. I could never actually enjoy spending time with you.”

“And the same thing goes for you.”

You met eyes in the mirror since that was all you could muster right now.

“Let’s dry our hair and head back.”

“Yeah,” You mumbled. You wanted to get out of this atmosphere as fast as possible. You couldn't endure the weirdness any longer. You were afraid you were actually going to start getting along if you didn’t get out soon.

Without a word, the two of you used the towels to dry your hair a bit before allowing it to air dry. You hung the towels up, then turned to each other to head out.

“You should go first then.”

“Why don’t you? You’re closer to the door.”

“Why do you have to fight me on everything I do and say? Just go already.”

“I only fight with you because your existence aggravates me more than you realize, Park Chanyeol.”

“Wow, it’s as if I haven’t heard that since the day we were practically born.” He rolled his eyes.

“Babies don’t talk that early, stupid.”

“It’s sarcasm, idiot.” He rolled his eyes. “Get better insults. I’ve heard that existence a billion times already. I’m bored.”

“Yeah, as if your insults are any better.”

He scoffed. “A million times better than yours. Obviously.”

“Oh, yeah? Says who? Your mom?” Even on the way back down, you were bickering the whole time. But that was to be expected of the two of you.

Whoever said you and Chanyeol were meant to be, they were idiots.


	2. Chapter 2

You were enjoying a peaceful breakfast, scrolling through your phone when your mother stepped in front of you with a cup of coffee in hand. She had a weirdly innocent smile on her face, which raised alarms.

“Y/N, my dear. Don’t you think this is the time where you should be looking for a new place to live?” And there it was.

“Is this your not so subtle way of kicking me out of the house?” You said through a mouthful of toast. She frowned, scolding you to talk after you eat.

“What do you mean? I was just throwing some ideas out there is all.” She waved her hand as if what you said was nonsense.

“Thanks, mama. I see how much I’m wanted around here,” You sighed and shook your head, making her laugh. “Since I knew you wanted me to move as quickly as possible, I’ve already looked into getting an apartment for senior year.”

“Oh! Have you found any that you like?”

You nodded, bringing up pictures on your phone. It wasn’t too far from the family house, so you were always going to be around to bug your parents whenever you felt like it.

“This one is decent sized for a cheap price, so if I want to get it, I have to go see the landlord soon to sign the lease. Then, it’s officially mine.”

She hummed in approval and nodded, which caused you to raise an eyebrow.

"What, no questions? No what about this or that? Shouldn’t they have this for me? Maybe I should reconsider and choose something else? Nothing at all?”

Your mother only giggled as a response, hiding her grin behind her cup of coffee. What was she up to and what did she know?

“Mama, are you hiding something from me?”

“No! Nothing at all. What could I possibly be hiding from you?” Before you could ask anything else, she abruptly left the room. You were confused by her weird behavior, but because she was always this strange, you thought nothing of it. Shrugging it off, you finished eating and went upstairs to get ready. You were due to meet the landlord in half an hour, so you quickly gathered everything you needed, then headed out.

When you arrived at the apartment complex, you couldn’t help but feel excited. This was going to be your new home for the year if you played your cards right. You parked the car and walked inside to find a way up to the unit. 

You were directed over to the elevator, but when you saw the sign on it, you cursed. The elevator was out of order for the time being and you hoped it was fixed by the time you have to move in. You let your head drop and let out a sigh as you made your way to the stairs since it was your only option. Facing the intimidating number of steps, you knew this was going to be a tough challenge ahead of you. But you had to do it.

“I can do this. I can do this,” You kept saying to make yourself feel better. But was it working? Not sure.

You took a deep breath to prepare yourself mentally, physically, and emotionally for the climb. You then took a step and continued your way to the top, enduring the pain in order to get to the apartment. Step after step, floor after floor, you questioned your will to keep going. Could you do this? Was it worth it? You let out a groan after every step, feeling the pain take over your body.

When the floors showed you were getting closer to where you needed to be, you thought you would be happy. You thought you’d be proud to have conquered so many flights of stairs and excited to have reached your new place. Instead, you were annoyed and extremely exhausted. To make things worse, the person standing by your apartment ruined your entire mood.

Chanyeol was standing with his shoulder leaning against the wall next to the door, most likely playing a game on his phone. How did he always know where to find you all the time? It was as if he did this on purpose just to annoy you.

Hearing the huffing and puffing from in front of him, he turned his attention from his phone to the person in front of him. When your eyes met, he scowled as much as you did and scoffed.

“What are you doing here?” You asked at the same time, irking the both of you more.

“I told my parents I was looking at an apartment today, but never told them where it was, so I don’t know how you could’ve possibly found me. That is unless you stalked me all the way here to which I have to say, too much free time. Even for you.”

He rolled his eyes. “Relax, stupid. I’m just here to check out my apartment. I would never waste my precious time trying to find you at all.”

“Wait, you mean-” Your voice trailed off as he pointed at the door and nodded. You were still trying to convince yourself that maybe, just maybe it wasn’t the one you were looking at as well.

“Yeah, this one. Did I have to spell it out for you to understand?” He rolled his eyes. Wasn’t it obvious? “I’m signing the lease today.”

“No, you’re not.”

Chanyeol was now on the defense. He was offended that you had the audacity to do this to him.

“What do you mean no, I’m not? You can’t tell me what I can and can’t do.”

“Because, you idiot, this is the apartment I’m signing for.”

“The hell are you talking about? The landlord told me last week that the apartment’s mine if I came today to sign it.”

“Chanyeol. I want this apartment. All the other places I looked at were too expensive and this was the only one that had everything I needed to survive senior year.”

“So? This apartment is big enough for me to have all of my stuff without having to pay so much for it.”

“Well, I spent weeks searching for a place, so I’m not going to give this up so easily.”

“Oh, yeah? I spent two months before finding this one, so I’m not giving up on it either.”

“Wow. You spent a few more weeks searching than I did. You’re so impressive, Chanyeol!” You gasped; words laced with sarcasm as you clapped.

Over the years, you and Chanyeol have constantly fought about everything. You two never backed down on your own views, always butting heads about something. Hence, why neither one of you was going to back down on this apartment.

But then, exhaustion hit the two of you as you let out a sigh. Too tired to fight, you agreed to a silent truce for the moment being until you could get this sorted out with the landlord.

“This is stupid. I don’t even have the energy to fight with you like this.” You slid down to the ground. He followed suit, but on the other side of the hall.

“Yeah, why waste all this energy on someone like you anyway? You wouldn’t even listen to what I have to say, so why bother.”

“Shut up,” You hissed, then checked your watch for the time. “I guess all we can do now is wait for him to get here to explain this mess.”

“Way to state the obvious, idiot.”

You scowled as your eyes shot daggers at him and he shot them back at you. Suddenly, the click of the door pulled your attention away from the other. The landlord came out of the unit and revealed himself with a smile.

“Ah, I thought I heard people outside. Y/N, Chanyeol. What can I do for you?” He asked, locking the place before turning his attention back to you.

You took a step forward with your best smile. “Sir, I think there was a mix up with the apartment. You told me last week that it was mine, but this idiot- I mean boy said you told him the same thing.”

“Right, so we would like to know the truth as to who has the right to this apartment.”

The landlord erupted into boisterous laughter, amused at the situation. You and Chanyeol looked at each other, confused and admittedly, a little scared.

“Yes. I did indeed inform the both of you that you have the apartment, but doesn’t that make the most sense since you two will be living together?”

“Woah, woah. We’re not living together, sir. I’m buying this apartment for myself,” You nervously laughed, gesturing between you and Chanyeol.

“What do you mean? Your parents had come by two weeks ago to settle everything for the both of you to move in this week,” He informed you. Then, everything clicked. From your mother’s behavior this morning to Chanyeol’s parents pushing for him to choose this apartment specifically. “Ah, excuse me. I’m getting a phone call, but I’ll be back with your lease after.”

He excused himself as he walked down the stairs to get to his office. Behind him, he left a trail of echoes that sounded like a curse. When you heard what he said, you felt your heart drop down to your stomach. You were waiting for him to say he was joking, but he never did.

You turned to Chanyeol who was just as stunned as you were. When you met eyes, you broke out in a nervous laugh. You were trying to convince yourself that this wasn’t true, that it wasn’t happening. You couldn’t believe it.

“He-He’s not serious, right?”

“N-No, no way. I think this is just one of those, you know, things.”

“Right, right.”

Neither one of you were making sense. This ordeal left you dazed.

It took a minute for it to dawn on you and you stopped laughing when the truth sank in.

“I cannot believe they did this to us!” You exclaimed, pulling at your hair.

“I-I can’t live with you! No way!”

Will the two of you shut up? There are other people who live on this floor, you know?” Your soon-to-be neighbors had it with you and scolded you. You flinched at the harsh slam of the door and looked over to Chanyeol.

“Get in the car. We have to have a chat with our parents.”

You and Chanyeol towered over your parents who were sitting at the kitchen table as if they were being punished. Though, they found it amusing that it became like this and giggled at how idiotic they looked. Meanwhile, their children were fuming with anger, but they were having too much fun to notice.

“Mother, father. I love you both very much and you know that, but how could you betray me by making me live with this thing?”

“I’ve been stuck with Y/N ever since the day we were born. I’ve had enough of Y/N, so why do you think putting us in an apartment together was a good idea? We can’t even handle being in the same room as each other, let alone a year!”

“We thought it’d be nice for you two to live together since you grew up with each other. It would also serve as a form of comfort to have the other there when you need something,” His father brought up.

“We’re not freshmen. We’re seniors. We don’t need any comfort from the other. We know what we’re doing, so why?”

“Then think of this as an opportunity to finally get along. It’s been how many years now and you’re still fighting like five-year-olds,” Your father sighed, disappointed that this was the outcome.

“You know, maybe they’ll fall in love with each other while living together. What do you think?” His mother giggled with your mother. They were like a pair of middle-schoolers who loved romance a little too much.

You pinched the bridge of your nose and shook your head. “I don’t, I don’t even know what to say anymore because no matter what we say or do, this is still happening. I’m going to be living with my least favorite person for a year.”

“Can’t I just move in with Sehun? He said I could if-” Chanyeol tried to reason with his parents but was met with a loud chorus of no’s. He let out a frustrated groan, running a hand through his hair and pulling at it.

“What’s the big deal anyway? What’s so wrong about living with each other?” Your mother questioned.

“That’s exactly why it’s a big deal! It’s me having to live with Park Chanyeol for a whole year!”

“Oi. Who said you were pleasant to live with?” He rolled his eyes. You scoffed and crossed your arms.

“It’s only for a year, you’ll live.”

During that one year of living together, many unexpected things happened, and you had no idea at the time just how much of it would transpire.


End file.
